Friends son headed to Afghanistan/Turkey need gift idea.

[hithard]

Hey guys I need a little help here.

I just met this gal, super nice, and her son is getting deployed for 15 months to Afgan and Turkey. He is with the army as a dog handler, the bomb sniffing kind. Sorry I forgot the military term. I would like to get him a small gift. I know some of you have faced this type of deployment and am hoping you can give me an idea or two.

Thank you for your service and ideas.

[tomme boy]

Tomahawk. Or a very good knife.

[nightal]

My Grandson was in Iraq, for 1 yr. he liked are packages, with a sleeve of Chew, in them.he was in a small base, on he Syrian, boarder lots of insurgents, like to swim the river, to fight with the bad guys then there were always the smugglers, his patrols used to chase them into the desert. when they caught them they always found, smokes of all kinds, booze, of all kinds, they could no take anything, Had to call the Iraqi,Police-Army, they came and took everything, drove the smugglers farther into the desert,after beating them, left them to walk out.of course they now had their, booty to sell

[Love Life]

A whole boatload of babywipes...

A good knife would be perfect, or a tomahawk. I never used a hawk because I am a doofus and never considered them. When I look back on my years, I see a hawk would have been VERY useful.

A good watch. Maybe some ITunes gift cards, a hard drive. or something along those lines. A multifuel stove. It is really the little things that get you through. Big Army takes care of the rest.

Being a dog handler in Afghanistan can be a rough job. You get attached as needed to whoever needs you, and the afghan lycans hate your dog.

A good electric razor would be great since dog handlers get a chance to come back to the rear on occasion. Hmmm. What else. Most of things I can think of are things you get throughout the deployment.

[elkhuntfever]

My wife's nephew was there as a Marine. Seems like an odd thing but he always asked for socks. He could never get enough.

[Artful]

In some of the care packages I have made up...

Knives, Multitool, fire stick, cotton balls, Survival tin

flashlights (don't forget the batteries should be common like AA or D), electronic games - poker
Gameboy/PS2/DS games don't forget this is a younger generation. MP3 players loaded with tunes.
Portable CD players w/ headphones, just headphones 'cuz they get broken.

Food
Hard Candies, Snacks, Vitamin's and suppliments. Some Idea's
LifeSavers/Certs/Tic Tacs/Chewing Gum/Lollipops/Tootsie Rolls/M&Ms/Skittles/Chiklets , Altoids, Jelly Belly's, Jaw Breakers, rock candy, Mints, etc

Instant Oatmeal/individual box cereal, Instant Drink/Hot Coca/Tea etc, think what you would take camping.
Presweetened Kool-aid/Presweetened Lemonade Mix,Powder Gatorade/Crystal Lite Powder Drink Mix

Snack cakes/Rice Krispy Treats/cookies/Granola Bars/Power Bars/PopTarts/PopTart sticks
Macaroni & cheese, Cups of Soup,Ramen Noodles,Instant soup in a pouch, instant just add water mashed potatoes
- Squeeze butter / Spices (crushed red pepper, Garlic, Parmasan cheese, tabasco), salt, pepper, Olives, pickles, sugar and non sugar sweeteners, Condiments that you use at home (old bay etc)

Peanut butter & cracker packages, Snack Crackers,Trail mix/Chex Mix/Gorp
Frito Scoops/Pringles/Doritos (snack size packs), Individual snack size chips
Tuna snack kits/canned chicken/Sardines/Smoked oysters and sardines
Slim Jims/Beef Jerky/summer sausage
Dried Fruit/individual applesauce/canned fruit with pop tops
Nuts/Raisins (individual bags/boxes) Sunflower seeds
Jello snack packs/Hunts Snack Puddings, Marshmellows

Emergency candle in a can - sealed
- it's the stove to have hot drink, see if you can find a metal cup that it fits inside becomes all in one package.

Hygene products (deorderant, Tissue, tooth paste, Dental floss etc) in travel sizes - put in seperate ziplock bags,
yep baby wipes, hand sanitizer and hand lotion in travel bottles - Band-aids/Neosporene/Hydrocortizone cream/Calamine Lotion, Benadryl/allergy/sinus pills, Motrin/Tylenol/Pain pills, Imodium AD/Pepto/Tums or Rolaids
foot care powder(NOTE: spray can's are restricted), Nail clippers/file, Baby powder,Eye drops,Disposable razors/bar soap,Lip balm/chapstick/sunscreen, Bandanas (camo,black,blue) wash cloths (black, brown, tan).

Comfort items
Mini fans - battery powered/ Hand Warmers - kind you add fuel to and light / Sewing kit
Books/Magazines/Home town Newspapers - sci-fi, fantisy, mystery, *I skip politic's - religon - war etc.
CD's, DVD's (remember in Islam countries no semi-nude or porn) make sure they have a player/laptop
some one requested a phone charger that would work off other batteries (yep they make 'em)
through in some batteries AA, D, 9 volt - long walk back to BX
Games -board (checkers, chess, ), cards, dice, crosswords, stress ball, hackey sack, time wasters in general.
letter writing supplies (paper, pens, and envelopes),
Sports balls, frisbee, Stuff toys, basically give away to local kids.
Extra Ziploc Bags quart/gallon/2 gallon
- might want chew toys for dog, Dental bones, Beggin strips, dry duck breast etc.

Around the holidays, decorations, Christmas stockings, Halloween and 4th of July
red, white and blue decorations make their holidays a little bit brighter.

I had a request for Silly String, Balloons and canned air at one point.
Also had a request for firearms cleanning stuff (brushes) - think the canned air was part of that.

Use flat rate USPS boxes to ship - APO doesn't cost extra -
Old magazines from goodwill/2nd hand book store/library don't cost much and are just as welcome.
Don't forget fellow service person in his package (some are women)
99 cent store stock good items in travel sizes.

Restricted from shipping list


Aerosol Can Products
Alcohol
Carbonated Beverages
Firearms and Ammunition
Flammable Items
Fresh Fruits or Veggies
Live Plants (seeds are OK I'm told)
Obscene or offensive material
Pork Products
Pornography
Tobacco
Read more: http://militarybenefits.info/tips-for-sending-care-packages-to-the-military-overseas/#ixzz2VjhDBh5D


If you want to forward me his addy or unit he's attached too I'll help out some.

[monge]

I wish him luck and a safe return, I thank him for his service to this great country. A good fixed blade knife that holds a edge might be a good gift?

[john hayslip]

A food inexpensive one that he can certainly use - even if only on his bayonet - is a small knife sharpener. I recently found one at WallyWorld that has the carbide and ceramic vee's and a small diamond coated rod on either side to do serrated knives. Small and weighs only an ounce or two. Think it was only eighteen dollars plus tax

[starmac]

A plane ticket home, he will never forget it. lol

[Buzzard II]

Unscented baby wipes, unscented talcum powder, Permanone bug spray, tomahawk, paracord lanyard so he can ALWAYS have a side arm with him-ALWAYS, good fighting knife, gum, spare socks, magazine subscription to a magazine HE LIKES, toothpaste, toothbrush, unscented soap, unscented deodorant, chapstick.

[wv109323]

You might also ask about sunglasses if the military ones are not liked.

[Boyscout]

When my son was in Helmand Province with the Marines we sent him assorted magazines and a lot of the items on Artful's list. Gander Mountain gave us hundreds of expired magazines with the front cover taken off (to avoid re-sale), jerky, photographs, peanut butter, wool socks from Covert Threads (they will drop ship direct and give a discount), any drink mixes in single serving tubes, playing cards, and small flashlights with common batteries. I always packed enough of one snack for a Squad so he would have something to share and one item of food he didn't like so he could give it away. Asprin is a big NO since it is a blood thinner but the Navy Corpsman appreciated having Tylenol.

The Marines liked reading free auto trading magazines. The seasonings might work as they would by an occasional goat off the locals for some fresh meat.

[WILCO]

Cigars and a nice bottle of Jack to enjoy while stateside.

[hithard]

Thank you all for your in put and gratitude for his service.

Starmac, what can I say! other than there is always one idea that stands out from the rest...I'm sure his mother will agree.

[Zymurgy50]

Just one thing to add that I havent seen yet, a case of jerky, as well as salt and pepper...

[gmsharps]

Zip lock bags have been a life saver for me. When you get a bag of chips or candy or just anything that you are tryin to stretch out for several days the old zip lock bag keeps it fresh and the sand, dirt and bugs out of it. If you sen chips the bags explode when being transported so the box is a mes or in the best case senerio really stale chips. Have the bag of chips put inside a large zip loc bag and so far I have not had any of them break open but the high altitude air pressure. On the plus side even if they did open, the zip lock bag will keep them reasonably fresh and he can resuse the zip loc bag. He should be able to get 550 cord but you never know. It can be used for multiple things like tying things up so they do not rest on the floor to securing gear while in vehicles or on your ruck. He will realize that the small things that he takes for granted will mean more than you can imagin. Find out what he really likes and get that for him. Anything that he does not care for his buddies probably will like.

gmsharps

[x101airborne]

Cornstarch or babypowder and a fresh washcloth can take the place of a shower for several weeks. A bottle of rubbing alcahol can make up for those really nasty days.
A couple of general grade dust masks would have been nice in those dust storms.
A K-Bar is a wonderful idea. A 'hawk would work well also.
The glasses we had were the Wiley-X's. They did well.
If he hasn't left yet, give him money to order a new set of his own style boots. Unless someone is just picky, he can wear most anything as long as it looks military style. There are a lot of options available on the civilian market that are better than any mil spec boots.
Under Armor T-shirts. They make em in military colors. find em. They are worth their weight in gold over cotton.
Wool socks. I know it sounds funny, but cotton holds moisture like nothing else. Nylon / rayon seems to always give me foot itch no matter how much I make sure they are clean. Wool is self wicking and does not allow the growth of a lot of foot funguses.
One thing I got from some of our contractors was an IR strobe beacon that clips onto a 9 volt battery. If you get in trouble or seperated and need evac, clip it to the battery (it just snaps on) and it can be seen by NODS through clothing, in a pack, and you can use it to mark vehicles, hostile targets, etc. It has a million and one uses.
Extra velcro and some 202 glue. Available at Walmart and I think made by Loctite corp. It is a pliable glue that works well on weapons, clothing, boots, pretty much everything that needs to hold tight and be pliable.
RUBBER electrical tape. Use it for grips, tightening up lose ends and wires, safety wiring things, etc.
If it is not on his units issue list, a good pair of rubber knee pads. I hate running and kneeling on rocks.

About once a month, make some fresh rice crispy treats and vacume seal em in those gamesaver bags. They keep really well and set em in the sun for a bit. They get warm and taste like the day they came out of the bowl. And the rice cereal almost refuses to be crushed, so they are not all sorry feeling when you eat em.
I always liked to get some different hot sauce in the mail, also. The Tobasco is ok, but you can get real interesting flavors and not just HOT. Dad got me some real mild hot sauce that was yellow. Had all the pepper flavor and aroma. I think it could have made a camel turd taste good.

[CLAYPOOL]

We sent one of the Glock knives over there.. we sent the tan one. Very nice construction.

[Able 5]

Most stuff will be provided or can be purchased. Big on my memory list was hot sauce (varied flavors) and jerky from my cousin, as they were scarce, anything else was nice! Well and ya can never have enough baby wipes...

[Love Life]

Under Armor T-shirts. They make em in military colors. find em. They are worth their weight in gold over cotton.


This brought back a funny memory. Back in 2006 under armor was the rage while deployed. Kept you cool, easy to clean, etc.

Word came down from high that we were no longer allowed to wear them because they weren't flame retardent and melted to your skin if you went up in flames (this was before the MRAP and the weak point was the fuel tank on the m1114). The insurgency like to wrap their IEDs in long sticks of rocket propellent (looked and acted like 1/4 inch thick, but 2 foot long sticks of corddite) so they would flame up really well when they detonated, but I digress.

When told we had to can our $40 apiece privately bought t-shirts, we did what all Marines do about anything. We griped. Our XO was my old platoon commander so we asked him. His response "If you get hit with a flame thrower your shirts will melt to your skin."

My response: "If I get hit by a flamethrower then I have other **** to worry about, Sir."

Thanks for bringing back the memory.

[Moonie]

This has been a great thread for me as I have a son that is one of Uncle Sams Misguided Children and is going to Afganistan in August. I taught him how to shoot and hunt, he is the one member of the family that can out shoot me, but don't tell him I said that.

[john hayslip]

Small and cheap - an old c-ration can opener. Fits on key ring and doubles as a screw driver and a pry bar. He might even find a can to open somewhere.

[searcher4851]

Top items on my son's request lists were always babywipes (unscented), socks, and jerky/slim jims. These are no only extremely useful personally, but are great barter items for other things. Needless to say, he and his unit were well supplied with these items.

[EDK]

My step son got the comfort food and other goodies from the family. He had a phone, lap-top with skype, etc. so he was in contact with home unless really out in the boonies.

I sent him TWO packages containing a dozen 30 round P-MAGS in each. Good life insurance and the spares were .excellent trade goods